Spirituality

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Our spirituality is grounded in deep companionship with Mary, Mother of the Church, which has always been the root of all life that is ecclesial. The following prayer attempts to express our communal spirituality and shows Our Lady’s place and mission in our lives.

Prayer to Mary, Mother of the Church

Composed by the Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Church

O Mary, Mother of Jesus and Mother of the Church, by your "yes" at the Annunciation, the Holy Spirit overshadowed you and the Word became flesh. Your maternity expanded at the foot of the Cross, and when the waters of Christian birth were unsealed, the Church received you as Her Mother. You guided the first steps of Christ's earthly life and with you the first steps of the Church were taken. Therefore, we come "together with you - persevering in prayer and with one mind" to await the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. We call upon you, Mary, Mother of the Church, to extend your intimate union with Christ to all and to stir us toward that unity in charity. Assist us in deepening our communion with Christ and with each other, so that in joyful evangelization, we may fruitfully bring the beauty of the Gospel and the hope of the Risen Christ to the whole world. Amen.

Mary, Mother of the Church is truly our Mother through the grace of baptismal regeneration through which our encounter with Christ and His Church begins and is sustained.

"Together with Mary", we contemplate in a special way three moments in the life of Jesus, Mary, the Holy Spirit, and the Church; the moment of the Incarnation at the Annunciation, the events of Christ’s redemptive suffering and death, and the Risen Lord’s Gift of the Holy Spirit for His Church at Pentecost.

In accordance with the eternal plan of Providence, Mary's divine motherhood is poured out upon the Church as a reflection and extension of her motherhood of the Son of God. The continuity and simple necessity of her maternity for the Church and her members is manifested in the solemn event of Pentecost. As Christ promised, He poured out the Gift of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles, who were “together with one mind in prayer with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren" (Acts 1:14). By her prayers, the Mother of the Church implores the Gift of the Holy Spirit for the entire Mystical Body, the Holy Spirit “who had already overshadowed her” according to the Will of the Father (Redemptoris Mater 24). Our Lady’s maternity accompanies the fullness of redemption and in the richness of her person is the link between the Incarnation and the birth of the Church by the work of the Blessed Trinity.

All people are invited by Christ through His Paschal Mystery to draw close to Him through the gift of His Mother. St. Louis Marie de Montfort tells us that the most sure and easy path to Jesus is through Mary. As Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Church, we are blessed to be co-operators in the new evangelization in this Marian and maternal sense so that the whole world may come to know the fullness of joy that comes from friendship with the Risen Lord and communion with His Bride, the Church. In this way, the world will know Christ, as we have come to know Christ, in the same way that the Church now shares the joys of the heart of Mary, poured out and shared at Pentecost.

We seek always to imitate Mary’s loving and listening heart, so that we may bear the Word of God, allow Him to be conceived in our hearts, and give Him to others.

We wish to deepen our lives of contemplation and from that mindfulness be vessels of that joy which emanates from the beauty of Gospel living. We ask to share in the mystery of Mary’s listening heart that we too may bear the Word of God within us, conceive Him in our hearts, and give Him daily to others.